Sheboygan County LGBTQ Alliance Book Club

Join the Sheboygan County LGBTQ Alliance for a book discussion series brought to you in partnership with Mead Library highlighting the diversity of the LGBTQIA+ community. Each month a different book covering a unique perspective on the queer experience will prompt deep, thought-provoking, and inspiring conversations for people who identify as LGBTQIA+ and straight allies alike. And if you don't know how you identify, but have a good faith desire to learn with curiosity and humility- we welcome you too. Join us for this facilitated book club that celebrates and explores queer life, love, and liberation. Books and discussions in this club may contain mature themes and language. 

Here's the Winter/Spring lineup:

Dec. 16: My Life On The Line: How the NFL Damn Near Killed Me and Ended Up Saving My Life by Ryan O’Callaghan and Cyd Ziegler   
"In this moving and powerful memoir, O'Callaghan details the fear and pain of a lifetime spent hiding one's true self. It's a suspenseful and cathartic look at a man on the edge, whose salvation could only come from admitting his truth and finding acceptance. This book will change the lives of young men and women struggling to come out, and the lives of those around them, who may not know how they're contributing to a loved one's pain and silence. O'Callaghan's brave and honest story is another big step forward in the continued fight for acceptance of LGBTQ people in the world of sports." Sarah Spain, ESPN Radio host  
*Discussion facilitated by Kathi McNellis 

Jan. 20: Landing by Emma Donoghue   
The novel's conflict emerges not only from the distance between the two lovers, the Irish flight attendant Síle and the Canadian curator Jude, but from several intersecting differences: gender identity, class, race, age, sexual orientation, and nationality. Síle’s nationality and sexuality are compromised through invisibility, and the novel unpacks how her race and gender contribute to this invisibility.  
*Discussion facilitated by Kathi McNellis 

Feb. 17: A Safe Girl to Love by Casey Plett    
An anthology of short stories/memoirs/vignettes covering the gamut of trans women’s experiences.  
*Discussion facilitated by Val Murrenus Pilmaier 

March 17: The Heart’s Invisible Furies by John Boyne  
“Enchanting... Boyne explores Cyril’s life in luscious detail… With evocative descriptions of each city and fateful plot turns that twist the narrative in surprising ways, Boyne adroitly captures Cyril’s shifting identity as he grapples with nationality, class, and sexuality. The book becomes both an examination of Cyril’s life and a catalogue of Western society’s evolution from post-war to present day, with all its failings, triumphs, complexities, and certainties… The life of Cyril Avery is one to be relished.” – Publishers Weekly 
*Discussion facilitated by Val Murrenus Pilmaier 

April 21: The Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue by Mackenzi Lee  
A YA novel with gay, bisexual, and asexual protagonists, “The friction of racism, tyrannical entitled politicians, and misguided disapproval of homosexuality also have a relevance rooted in current culture’s xeno- and homophobia.” - Kirkus Reviews starred review  
*Discussion facilitated by Kathi McNellis 

May 19: Stone Butch Blues by Leslie Feinberg    
Published in 1993, this brave, original novel is considered by many to be the finest account ever written of the complexities of a transgendered existence.  
*Discussion facilitated by Kathi McNellis